1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to brewers designed to produce single beverage servings by injecting heated liquid into disposable cartridges containing a dry beverage medium, and is concerned in particular with an improved beverage filter cartridge holder for such brewers.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Known beverage filter cartridges and cartridge holders are described in the above-referenced U.S. patents. The cartridge side walls are generally frustum-shaped and smooth and as such, do not provide a means of rotatably fixing and preferably also orienting the cartridges within the holders. This complicates and largely frustrates efforts to mark the cartridge side walls with coded indicia that can be reliably observed and interpreted by machine readers positioned within the brewers. Such indicia can be usefully processed by control systems designed, for example, to vary the amount and/or flow rate of liquid being dispensed, depending on the type of beverage medium being brewed.
More recently developed cartridges of the type disclosed for example in the above-referenced patent applications include side walls with surface irregularities that can be mechanically engaged to rotatably immobilize and orientate the cartridges within the holders.
The principal objective of the present invention is the provision of a cartridge holder having internal surfaces or components configured and arranged to coact in mechanical interengagement with surface irregularities in the cartridge side walls to rotatably fix the cartridges within the holder.
A companion objective of the present invention is to also achieve a predetermined and repeatable orientation of the cartridges within the holders.
The holder of the present invention is designed for use in an apparatus for brewing a beverage by infusing heated liquid with a beverage medium contained in a single serve disposable cartridge. In one embodiment of the present invention, the holder is configured for use within a cartridge having an inverted frustum-shaped side wall specially contoured to provide at least one and preferably a plurality of strategically placed surface irregularities. The cartridge is removably received in a cup-shaped housing having a side wall configured and dimensioned to surround the cartridge side wall. Locating elements are arranged to coact with the one or plural surface irregularities in the cartridge side wall to rotatably immobilize the cartridge within the housing. A lid is mounted for manipulation between an open position accommodating insertion and removal of the cartridge, and a closed position confining the cartridge within the housing. Tubular probes associated with the lid and housing are arranged to pierce the thus confined cartridge to thereby accommodate a through flow of heated liquid for infusion with the beverage medium contained in the cartridge.
Preferably, the plural surface irregularities coact with the locating elements to not only rotatably fix the cartridge, but also to achieve a predetermined and repeatable orientation of the cartridge within the housing.
In other embodiments of the present invention the interior surface of the housing is contoured to coact in mechanical interengagement with the surface irregularities in the cartridge side wall.
These and other objectives, features and advantages of the present invention will now be described in greater detail with reference to the accompanying drawings, wherein: